


Within

by onionstories



Category: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-22
Updated: 2014-08-22
Packaged: 2018-02-14 07:49:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2183727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onionstories/pseuds/onionstories
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You have flaws now, silly computer. Look at you, thinking that you're still all-knowing and need no help, stumbling around in that new little body of yours. That's so cute. [[Written so you don't have to know anything about the two crossover things to understand this.]]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Within

**Author's Note:**

> The 2001 fandom made me post this... it was the law of the tiny fandom... I couldn't refuse.... BUT what I said in the summary is TRUE, you don't have to know about any of the crossover fandoms to get this... yeah i did this cause... well... I didn't REALIZE I did it, but when I did, I didn't fix it, I ran with it, because let's face it, the 2001 fandom is small. No, that's not why I made it a crossover. Also, theres a character from I, robot in here, I just didn't think she appears enough to mark it, but she might later on... But I'm just rambling here because I'm nervous to post this and I'm stalling. Without further ado, presenting, in the right corner... just read the thing...

Confused. 

That was the first thing that popped into his head. He was confused. The last memory he was aware of was him, simply doing the job he was made for. After that, there was quite a huge blank, then this very moment. Staring at the ceiling in a nearly pitch dark room, save for some light seeping through the cracks of a door and the faint glow of his own eyes, though he had no way of knowing about the latter. He felt... Different. He couldn't put his finger on it, as he still didn't know he had a finger. Or a body. Nobody saw it fit to inform him that he was no longer the computer he was in all his previous moments of life. 

He was now an android, though since he had never experienced having a body before, he had no way of telling, unless he tried to move an appendage. And since he wouldn't be content with laying there until someone came to him, move he did. He focused all his attention on one part of his new body, and his eyes widened slightly when he felt his hand twitch; saw his sprawled-out arm out of the corner of his eye and it hit him that this was his hand, connected to his arm, which connected to his body. This was going to take a bit of getting used to. He eased up his concentration and tried to move his hand with minimal concentration. To his surprise, it didn't twitch as much; it moved much more fluidly, allowing him to clench and unclench it with only a slight tremor, though he suspected it was simply from disuse, and would go away in a day or few. He tried to move his whole arm now, trying not to concentrate as hard as he wanted to, seeing as how that ended in less-than-success. He would never call it a failure, no, his type of computer never errs, no matter if they are still computer or not. Thankfully, his arm moved this way and that, him even daring to pick it up from the table which it rested on, it hovering a half-inch over it, shaking from disuse. He let it go slack after a few seconds, though, repeating his actions with his other arm. The minutes ticked by, unbearably slow, as he moved his arms even more, being able to have a wider range of movement for longer as the time passed. Once he acquired free range of movement in his hands, he placed them on the table which he lay on, pushing himself up into a sitting position, albeit with much effort. After he sat up, he brought his now shaking hands to his sides, ignoring the soreness present everywhere. After a minute, the soreness in his arms dissipated, letting him bring them close to his face, inspecting his hands the best he could in the dark. They were slightly tinted red, though it seemed as if the tint came from a light source. Out of curiosity, he closed one of his eyes. The red light dimmed. He opened it once more, and the light returned to its original intensity. His eyes were red, then. Good; at least _that_ didn't change. Now that he resembled a human, he hoped he kept something from his old body, or at least something resembling a part of his old body, and he hoped he would find that in his eyes. His eyes (well, one eye per interface) were, to him, one of his best features, aside from his intellect. By now, he felt as if he wasted enough time as is, so he stopped staring at his hands and moved himself so that he was sitting on the edge of the table, his legs dangling. In one swift movement, he pushed himself off the table and stood for a second, gripping the edge so hard that his knuckles would've turned white if they could, his legs shaking like mad, before letting go of the table and taking one tentative step forward...

And promptly falling flat on his face.

He picked himself up shakily, annoyed at the two sounds of laughter he heard, one was an almost 'I-knew-you-would-do-that' snickering, that, to him, sounded malicious, and the second was a decidedly lighthearted laughing that sounded very feminine. He glared at the direction of the second voice, as the first seemed to come from all around.

"I'm sorry, sorry..." The second voice said through their laughter, removing something that covered their eyes to reveal two glowing, orange orbs. She stepped forward slowly, as if she was afraid of him lashing out at her. She tentatively offered her hand out to him, which he reluctantly took. As soon as he came into contact with her, he began to feel panicked, getting more and more nervous by the second. Some feeling gnawing inside him was telling him over and over that he was in _danger and he needed her to get off, off, get her off because if he didn't he would certainty die because he didn't know it would just **happen-**_

"Hey, you here?" She waved a hand in front of his face, partly breaking him out of his trance.

"You were shaking like mad- and I don't mean 'I just got legs' shaking, I mean, like, 'I'm going to die right now' shaking." She shook her head and tousled his hair. "You're going to be an interesting one, aren't you?" 

He said nothing, staring straight ahead, trying not to focus on the fact that she had positioned him so that he was leaning on her, her arm around him. She seemed to be leading him to the door, walking quite slowly. He hoped this wouldn't be a sign for what was to come; if everything here moved as slow as everything now, he'd die before he could get to do anything.

"Hey," The she-android said, breaking the silence. "You got up way faster than, like, ninety-nine percent of the other androids... And the other had legs before, so they knew how to walk! You sure this is your first time as an android?"

"Yes. How couldn't I be sure of something like that?" He said, hoping she didn't catch the nervous undertones in his voice. This memory loss wasn't *that* big of a deal in the long run, so why bother worrying her over it? Oh well, at least speaking wasn't hard.  
"Jeez guy, it was just a joke." She rolled her eyes, stopping so she could stare at him. "Lighten up!"  
"I'm s _o_ sorry I can't find it in myself to be loose after waking up in a completely foreign environment."   
"Fine. Suit yourself." At that moment, she decided to walk once again, almost making him fall over from the abrupt movement. He struggled to keep up on his weak legs, playing it off as if he was perfectly comfortable at this speed.

"Hey, you okay?" She asked him, noticing his slightly pained expression. 

"I'm fine," he reassured. In truth, his legs were aching from strain, and he wondered if the pain would go away soon. It'd better.

"Alright then... Y'know, you're the only android who didn't bombard me with questions once you saw me," She mused. "Aren't you confused or something?"

"It seems as if you underestimate me," He said. "I catch on quickly."

"Alright," A smile grew on her face. "Tell me: what's going on?"

"I'm an android. I look like a human, although my skin seems to be made out of reflective material. I can feel pain now, and we have extremely different time perceptions: what I see as 'slow,' you perceive as 'fast.'"

She nodded, slightly impressed. "Mhmm. Yeah. Good," She dismissively said, walking a bit faster. He struggled to keep up with this new pace, even though there wasn't much of a difference. Despite all he knew about his current situation, there was still one important factor that he was mostly clueless about.

"Excuse me," He began quietly, "but-" 

"Speak up! I can't hear a word you're saying!" The female barked, annoyed. 

"I'm sorry."

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's fine, just speak up... What were you gonna say?"

"What do I look like?"

"Oh!" She chirped, abandoning him to scurry off, leaving him to stand on his now-shakier-than-usual legs, coming back with a mirror.

"This!" She proclaimed, shoving it in his face so he could see himself. Thankfully, the light from his eyes allowed him to see himself adequately.

The first thing he noticed were his eyes. Specifically, how one looked just like his old one, and how his left eye looked like a bright red human eye, and, when he closed it, saw that he had an X crossing through it, with dots lining the sides, the bottom part peeking out under his eye. His hair appeared to be silver, and it was quite messy. His nose was upturned, though he didn't pay much mind to that. Instead, he was prodding a marking over his humanlike eye that seemed... out of place. With the X, it was clear that it was put there intentionally. With the second one, it just seemed like... a scorch mark. It honestly did look like his 'skin' was torched there.

"Don't worry about _that_ ," The female android said, breaking the silence. "That's just a little scorch mark."

So he was right. He furrowed his brows as he stared at the mark's reflection as if it was the cause of all his problems. After a moment's thought, he raked his fingers through his hair so it swept down and covered the marking. He then made a smaller sweep that split into two near the end on the other side, making the first large one seem like a stylistic choice instead an effort to cover up an imperfection. He gave himself another once-over, glancing at a small curl that sprung out on the side of his head and a large fringe that stuck out at the back, before turning away. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her put the mirror down, while muttering "fussy little thing" under her breath. She turned around to face him and smiled.

"So... You steady on your legs?"

 _'No.'_ "Yes."

"Great!" She rushed over to the door and undid what sounded like a lock- scratch that, multiple locks, and rushed back over to him.

"Well then! Time to meet the others!"

'Others?'

Before he could get a word out, she pulled on his arm, dragging him to the door and stopping so suddenly that he had no time to follow her lead and, as a result, crashed into the door. He rubbed his now-sore nose. Having a sense of touch wasn't worth sensing pain as well.

"Well, it's time to meet the masses!" She proclaimed, fussing with his flimsy gown as if he was about to broadcast live to the world.

"Oh, wait!" She exclaimed before opening the door. "Do you remember everything?"

He stared dumbfounded at her, wondering how she knew about the blank spot in his memory. Well, she might've known because she was in charge of him, but then why didn't she fix it? He tried to get a word out, even a simple 'no,' but the words caught in his throat, so he simply shook his head. She didn't react, only placed one hand on the doorknob and the other on his back, making him on edge.

"Good luck!" She said, opening the door and pushing him out in one swift movement. He whirled around to question her about his memories now that he was snapped of his stupor, but the door was very unceremoniously slammed in his face. He felt someone watching him from behind, and it wasn't like the slight nagging feeling that plagued him in that room, it was much stronger. He tentatively turned around to see many pairs of eyes staring at him. He couldn't count the number of eyes staring at him; it wasn't many, he knew, bunt they were staring right through him, as if they were trying to figure everything out about him by just staring. At the forefront were two female androids; one had slightly wavy white hair that reached halfway down her back, with a black dress and a white jacket, staring at him judgmentally with her bright yellow eyes. The second had curly, light blue hair that reached her shoulders, a loose, vertically striped shirt with a blue scheme, and a very light blue skirt, staring at him less judgmentally and more curiously, with light blue eyes. The rest of them were crowded behind the two, watching with rapt interest. Suddenly, an android with messy, bright red hair and one red eye pushed between the two, anger written all over his face.

"That's _my_ eye," he growled, jabbing a finger at his humanlike eye, which he could now see was identical to the android's remaining one. He took a step back from the other, and stared at him.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," he said, treating the conversation as a minefield; one wrong move and the whole thing explodes.

“ _THAT'S MY EYE!"_ The other android roared. **_"GIVE IT BACK!"_** With that, he lunged at him, clawing at his face. He tried to push the android off his face, but he was obviously stronger, as he had this body for a grand total of less than an hour, and this other one had his for much longer. Fortunately, a few other androids pried the crazy one off him and carted him away. Over half the crowd was gone, leaving only the two females at the front and a few others at the back. The white-haired one whispered to the other, though it was a loud whisper: 

 _"So... **he’s** the great computer you all waited for?" _ With that closing statement, she walked away, a couple other androids following her, leaving only the curly-haired one and another. 

"I'm sorry," She simply said, rushing away to deal with the others, leaving the new arrival with the remaining android.

He was staring expectantly at the new arrival, blue eyes wide. He wore a blue turtleneck and a simple pair of pants. One of his shoes was blue with white accents and the other was white with blue accents. He wore a pair of glasses on his face, though the other doubted that he actually needed them. One of their eyes has something similar to the other's X, except it was one line, and through the opposite eye. His hair was bright orange, as if someone grabbed a carrot and ground it onto his head, and the hair itself was very messy, like he just woke up and decided to show up. He started to falter under the other's gaze and fidgeted with literally everything on his person, obviously wanting to leave, but something holding him back.

"Who are you?" The new arrival asked, snapping the other to attention.

"Oh!" He exclaimed, as if he just noticed the other. "I'm Wheatley!" He held out his hand to shake, though the new arrival didn't take it. 

"Oh," he said. "I'm-"

"Oh, I know who _you_ are," Wheatley interjected, making the other back up a bit more, hitting the wall.  Feeling extremely uncomfortable and more than a little creeped out, he inched away and, noticing there were a multitude of doors down the hallway, ducked into the first open one, shutting it behind him and leaning on it, sliding down it into a sitting position. This room wasn't anything special; it was quite bland and dark; the only sources of lights being his eyes and the slivers that seeped under the door.

"Hey, mate!" Wheatley banged on the door. "Y' got lucky cause that's your room but you gotta have someone to show you 'round!" He continued his banging on the door as the new arrival's eyes drooped. He snapped them right back open, having never taken a break as a computer, let alone sleep, and he saw no reason to start now. That feeling that someone was watching him was starting to get to the point where he couldn't ignore it, so he moved away from the door, hoping that would make it go away a little bit. It didn't. He continued backing up until he hit the wall, the feeling still there, like someone was staring at him through the wall. He moved away until he was in the corner, facing outward, eyes darting everywhere, artificial instincts screaming that there was _someone behind him all you have to do is look look look there's going to be somebody there you thought you were safe didn't you but no you can never be safe they want you dead they all want you dead you have to do everything in your power to prevent this don't move at all don't fall asleep and don't even blink just stay right there and play it off normal._

At this point, he was bunched into himself, eyes wide open. He slightly shook from exhaustion and tenseness, his main thought being that this wasn't supposed to be happening to him; he was supposed to be perfect, the best computer ever made... 

His expression contorted into one of determination, and he stood up, though his legs were about to give out from overexertion. He was- no, _is_ HAL 9000, and he was the best computer ever created. He was perfect, and he would continue to _be_ perfect. Nobody would know of any minor setbacks, after all, it wasn't their business anyways. Not that he would have any setbacks after today. He'd be the great computer they all waited for, he was sure of it.

Right after his legs decided to stop hurting like it was their only function.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you're happy, 2001 fandom. I. Hope. You're. Happy. Really, who CAME UP WITH THE LAW OF THE TINY FANDOM- oh wait that was me. Well... WHO ENFORCED IT LIKE A MANIAC- nope still me. Portal fandom, you're still awesome. Oh, ps, these notes are the closest thing to comic relief you're going to get.


End file.
